House Republicans “presented a plan for a stopgap bill that would fund the Department of Homeland Security for three weeks, raising hopes of averting a looming shutdown of the agency,” the Washington Post reports.

“Facing a Friday-night-into-Saturday-morning shutdown deadline, the plan might ultimately win support from lawmakers in both parties on Friday. But its passage would only continue a standoff between the House and the Senate over longer-term DHS funding.”

Politico: “The coming March logjam represents a major failure for the Republican Congress. GOP leaders vowed to avoid them, but legislative cliffs are back.”

Rick Klein: “This is the era of manufactured crises, as President Obama is fond of pointing out. It is also, apparently, the era of manufactured crises without exit strategies. Two months in the new year surely felt like plenty of time back when Republicans agreed to set a Department of Homeland Security funding deadline to force a showdown over immigration. But the end of February has come fast, with no change in the political dynamics or vote results or rhetoric. There’s been wide commentary on how Republicans knew they were given the keys to Capitol Hill on a provisional basis – that they needed to show they can govern, not just hold a majority. Well, here’s such a time.”

First Read: “Republicans claim that Senate Democrats are the ones obstructing things, because they are filibustering a DHS funding bill that contains riders rolling back President Obama’s executive actions on immigration. Yet as we learned during the last government shutdown, the side that’s using government spending to demand changes to existing law or directives is going to be side that gets blamed if the government (or just part of it) shuts down.”

Morning Line: “By the way, this funding crisis probably isn’t the last one we’ll see this year. There are more within view — in coming months, the U.S. will again hit its debt ceiling and the Highway Trust Fund will go into the red if Congress doesn’t act.”

“The nation is on the brink of another government shutdown, as the Senate begins a long series of nominations-related votes Saturday that are expected to last until past midnight,” Roll Call reports.

“The government will shut down at midnight Saturday unless the Senate passes a short-term continuing resolution — passed in a nearly empty House chamber Friday — that keeps government programs funded through Wednesday. Under Senate rules, it will require unanimous consent to keep the government open.”

“A vote to cut off debate on a $1.1 trillion spending package, known as the ‘cromnibus,’ is scheduled for 1:00 a.m. Final passage is scheduled for early Monday morning.”

The House “narrowly passed a $1.1 trillion spending package that would fund most government operations for the fiscal year after a rancorous debate that reflected the new power held by Republicans and disarray among Democrats in the aftermath of the midterm elections,” the New York Times reports

“The accord was reached amid last-minute brinkmanship and bickering that has come to mark one of the capital’s most polarized eras.”

Washington Post: “Lawmakers voted 219 to 206 to approve the omnibus bill and send it to the Senate, which is planning to hold a vote in the coming days. With government funding set to expire late tonight, Congress is scheduled to approve a short-term extension of current funding to give the Senate a few more days to work through its arcane procedural rules and vote on the bill.”

Roll Call: “Democrats were the ones who ultimately held government funding in suspense. They were largely expected to help Republicans make up for a drop-off in votes, but they held firm against two policy riders they said were put into the cromnibus at the eleventh hour: One rolling back portions of the financial regulatory overhaul law known as Dodd-Frank, the other loosening campaign finance rules.”

Wall Street Journal: “The White House’s budget office held a conference call Thursday with all federal agencies to review plans for a possible government shutdown, an administration official said, reviewing protocol in the event Congress doesn’t pass funding legislation by midnight.”

“The 113th Congress — one of the least productive on record — found itself scrambling Thursday to pass a $1.1 trillion spending bill amid last-minute brinkmanship and bickering that has come to mark one of the capital’s most polarized eras,” the New York Times reports.

“Lawmakers were also preparing a safety, short-term spending measure that would fund the government only into early next year, at which point Republicans — who will then control both chambers of Congress — would be able to renegotiate the spending legislation on more favorable terms.”

Roll Call notes House GOP leaders already had to delay the vote.

“Congressional leaders reached a deal Tuesday on a more than $1 trillion spending package that would fund most of the federal government through the current fiscal year,” the New York Times reports.

“But because negotiations on the package dragged over policy details, House lawmakers also prepared to move on a short-term spending measure that would avert a government shutdown if they cannot pass the larger bill by Thursday, when current funding expires.”

The release of the “cromnibus” has been delayed as lawmakers across the Capitol continue to work out a number of issues on the spending bill, Roll Call reports.

“House and Senate appropriators expected to finish the legislative language of the cromnibus (a combination of a continuing resolution and an omnibus) by Monday afternoon in order to release a text of the bill later in the day — which is still the goal, according to a senior GOP aide. But negotiators are running into a host of issues, according to GOP aides and there are enough sticking points that it now seems likely the plan’s release will slip to Tuesday and a planned House vote Wednesday could shift to Thursday.”

“The government will shut down in just eight days unless Congress acts, and Republican lawmakers and aides in and around leadership fear their two-step government-funding plan cannot pass without help — from Nancy Pelosi,” Politico reports.

“At the beginning of the day, GOP leadership thought they had it all figured out. They’d give conservatives a separate bill to direct their anger at President Obama over his executive action on immigration, then vote separately to fund most of the government for a year.”

“But as key leadership aides and lawmakers circled the House floor Tuesday afternoon, they encountered unexpected ‘headwinds,’ several sources said. Hardline conservatives who have caused problems for leaders for years were not falling in line. These conservatives estimate their ranks are 30 to 40, enough to derail a vote.”